Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Middleweights

8. Michael Bisping

I did not even have Bisping on my own list, but enough respondents did to give him an honorable ninth-place finish. While I am no fan of Bisping as a commentator or a personality, I have the highest level of respect for what he achieved in his MMA career. No one worked harder or was more determined to win and succeed, with a ferocious strength of will and toughness that allowed him to keep fighting and grinding for that elusive championship when no sane person believed he had a realistic chance. He is one of the great overachievers in MMA history, defeating countless men who were more naturally gifted but not as dedicated or hard-working as him. Bisping holds many quality victories over his career, including knockouts of Cung Le, Jason Miller and Jorge Rivera, plus decisions against Thales Leites, C.B. Dolloway, Chris Leben and a 40-year-old but still dangerous Anderson Silva.

Bisping also endured some bitter losses, like his famous knockout defeat to Dan Henderson at UFC 100. He was choked out by Luke Rockhold, obliterated by Vitor Belfort and submitted by a welterweight Georges St. Pierre coming out of retirement. In addition, the Brit was knocked into retirement by Kelvin Gastelum and decisioned by Rashad Evans, a washed-up Wanderlei Silva, Chael Sonnen and Tim Kennedy. I should also point out that Bisping’s split decision over Matt Hamill was one of the great robberies in the sport’s history, with over 81% of the public scoring it for Hamill, many of them by a 30-27 count. However, Bisping kept plugging away despite the setbacks. His shining moment was his incredible knockout of Rockhold, who had easily dismissed the Brit the first time they met. Bisping never wavered in his own belief, and he crashed through in glorious fashion—a Cinderella Man for the modern MMA age.

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